Congress urges Centre to set up a second SRC

Congress urges Centre to set up a second SRC to take a look at the statehood demands, reports Saroj Nagi.

TRS leader Chandrashekhara Rao’s impressive victory in the Karimnagar parliamentary byelection on the issue of a separate Telangana has prompted the Congress to urge the Centre to set up a second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to take a look at the statehood demands, including for Telengana, Vidarbha and Harit Pradesh.

AICC general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh said he would call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next week to formally request him to constitute the SRC. He would also meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who heads the three member sub-committee that the PM had set up to go into the demand for a separate Telengana when the TRS was part of the UPA.

Singh’s statement came in the wake of the two-day brainstorming session of Congress leaders of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad where the state leaders reiterated their demand for a second SRC in keeping with the promise made in their manifesto. The demand is also in line with the resolution the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress Working Committee had adopted when the Congress was in the opposition at the Centre.

If the Congress in Andhra seemed to be gearing up for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls with their demand for a SRC, the AICC on Saturday set up a team of observers for the forthcoming assembly polls in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur.

The observers for Punjab are Mohsina Kidwai, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Santosh Bagrodia, for Uttarakhand are Suresh Pachauri, Mukul Wasnik and KP Singh Deo and for Manipur, Margaret Alva, PR Dasmunshi and BK Handique. The list of candidates for Manipur will be vetted on January 11-12 and for Punjab and Uttarakhand between January 17-22 and approved by the Central Election Committee during its period meetings between January 15-25.